Students Plant Apple Trees at Mapleside Farms

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BRUNSWICK, Ohio -- Some Medina County fourth and fifth grade students got their "green thumbs" Friday.

A couple hundred Brunswick students stepped out of the classroom and got a lesson in apple trees -- how to plant them, how they grow and how they produce fruit -- at Mapleside Farms.

The students planted about 200 apple dwarf trees.

"It's my first time, and I think it's really fun because it's actually hands-on work instead of having technology do everything for you," said Spencer Dillard.

Currently there are about 4,000 apple trees at the 117-acre farm that's been around since 1927. The owners, Greg and Kelly Clement, plan on tripling the size of the apple orchard in the next few years, so they were happy to have the students help out.

"Kids are having a blast," said Greg Clement. "They jumped off the bus, and I asked them 'you guys excited to plant some apples?,' and they were actually very pumped up. So very cool."

The students are planting dwarf trees, which take about three years to bloom, and they live about 60 years.

Right now, Mapleside is growing about 12 different types of apples, and their goal is to have 25 varieties to choose from in the next few years.

"We want to plant a lot of apples that you can't find at the grocery store. Very unique. Very sort of weird but delicious apples that people didn't even know existed," said Greg Clement.

Because of all the great weather lately, some of the older apple trees are already starting to blossom.